Huckabee, looking to 2016 race, speaks of 'a real opportunity for me'

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the 2008 Iowa caucuses before dropping out.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the 2008 Iowa caucuses...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas has not been among the Republicans frequently named as a potential 2016 presidential candidate, but he would like that to change.

“I'm keeping the door open,” Huckabee said in an interview here Thursday night about the possibility of seeking his party's nomination again. “I think right now the focus needs to be on 2014, but I'm mindful of the fact that there's a real opportunity for me.”

Huckabee, a Christian conservative who made a splash by winning the 2008 Iowa caucuses before seeing his cash-short bid overwhelmed in subsequent states, said he would not run this time unless he could finance a durable campaign.

“If I talk to people and they say, 'If you run, we're in and we're in a big way,' that's going be helpful,” he said. “If I don't hear that, you know what? This will be a real easy decision for me to make because I've jumped in a pool without water before, and it's a hard hit at the bottom.”

Since his defeat in 2008, Huckabee has made a living off his Fox News show, a talk radio program he just gave up, and a steady schedule of paid speeches all over the country. He said he did not run for president in 2012 because he did not think President Barack Obama could be defeated, but he also acknowledged he has enjoyed earning a measure of financial comfort and celebrity through his show.

It is those two factors, along with the rise of super PACs that let a single wealthy individual sustain a candidate lacking a major financial network, that he says are making him look closely at a second presidential run.

Were he to run in 2016, he said, he believes his brand of populism would be among his best assets and perhaps appealing to the GOP electorate if the economic recovery continues to be fitful for some.